ISLAMABAD: Authorities have begun action against vehicles plying roads in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad without electronic tags, or e-tags, the Islamabad administration said on Sunday, in a move aimed at streamlining traffic management and improving monitoring at the city’s entry and exit points.

The capital administration made e-tags mandatory for all vehicles in Islamabad in Nov. last year to enhance security in the city. Vehicles already equipped with a motorway tag, or m-tag, do not require an e-tag.

The move is aimed at regulating traffic flow, improving record-keeping, and ensuring that vehicles entering the federal capital are properly registered within the system, according to the officials.

The enforcement relies on e-tag readers installed at entry and check points across the capital, which automatically identify untagged vehicles and allow authorities to take action without manual checks.

“Vehicles without m-tags are being stopped at various checkpoints,” the Islamabad administration said in a statement, citing a top excise official. “Citizens are requested to get the tags installed as soon as possible to avoid legal trouble.”

Readers are fully operational at various check points across the city to identify vehicles without e-tags, according to the statement. Installation of e-tags is also underway at 17 points set up in different areas.

“A total of 166,888 vehicles have so far been successfully issued m-tags,” the statement read.

Last month, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also reviewed Islamabad’s monitoring system and said reforms in Safe City project operations and the effective use of technology were the “need of the hour,” according to his ministry.

“Under the Capital Smart City initiative, citizen services such as Rescue 1122, traffic management, security, and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) would be integrated into a centralized system,” Naqvi said.